Imelda Staunton in Hello, Dolly! Photo: Manuel Harlan
Jerry Herman‘s 1964 musical about a matchmaker in late 19th century New York is given a lavish revival by Dominic Cooke, with an all-conquering Imelda Staunton in the title role. The critics lavished praise on every aspect of the production but saved the highest marks for Ms Staunton.
[Links to full reviews are included but a number are behind paywalls and therefore may not be accessible]
Fiona Mountford in the i (5) said, ‘The Palladium stage is cavernous, but the diminutive Staunton commands it utterly’. She declared, ‘It is delightful to be able to say that right here is a landmark theatrical production that will be talked about for years to come.’ Aliya Al-Hassan at Broadway World (5) echoed the thought, ‘An immaculate Staunton is the heart of this production, but there is so much to enjoy about this truly joyful show. It will be spoken of in years to come’.
Marianka Swain for LondonTheatre (5★) called it ‘the show of the year’. She explained, ‘Every element is pitch-perfect, from Rae Smith’s delectable costumes…to Bill Deamer’s dreamy choreography…It’s like a Golden Age MGM movie come to life.’ ‘“My heart is about to burst,” the chorus sings. Same here’, said The Guardian’s Arifa Akbar (5). She explained, ‘this production casts a magic spell. Dominic Cooke’s production is immaculately performed and slowly, beautifully life-affirming, with humour that reins in the schmaltz.’
Sarah Hemming in the Financial Times (5) said, ‘Staunton brings her own blend of splinter-sharp comic timing and emotional depth to the part’. She was impressed that director Dominic Cooke ‘throws everything at it the vast Palladium stage can handle, relishing the chance to savour musical comedy at its bonkers best’. If that wasn’t enough, ‘Cooke and his cast find rich emotional truths and salient points in the story’.
Nick Curtis at the Standard (4) described Imelda Staunton as ‘the driving force of Dominic Cooke’s sumptuous, effervescent production, even bringing a note of pathos to the story’s wry wit and knockabout daftness.’ Neil Norman in the Express (4) declared that Imelda Staunton brings ‘light and shade to Dolly that only a serious actor at the top of her game could achieve.’ Patrick Marmion in the Daily Mail (4★) claimed, ‘Staunton has the musical wattage of a nuclear power station.’
The Independent’s Alice Saville (4) described the production as ‘a lean mean entertainment machine’ and praised ‘Bill Deamer’s appropriately high-spirited choreography’. Holly O’Mahony in The Stage (4★) described it as ‘Sparkling with joie de vivre and running on a boisterous charm that prevents this safe but loveable production becoming overly sentimental’. Caroline McGinn reviewing for Time Out (4★) called it ‘a terrific old-fashioned show’.
Dominic Cavendish in the Telegraph (4) loved Imelda Staunton’s performance: ‘The way this actress can expand to fill a space even while standing still, can have you hanging on the smallest look, whether expressive of beaming mischief, beady assertion or quiet vulnerability, and can raise the roof without breaking into a sweat, reaffirms her as one of British theatre’s greats‘ However, ‘the show itself is like a parade, a succession of scenes that don’t dig very deep’.
Critics’ Average Rating 4.4★
Value rating 49 (Value rating is the Average Critic Rating divided by the typical ticket price.)
Olivia Washington and Kit Harington in Slave Play. Photo: Helen Murray
‘Is London ready for this?’ asks the publicity material for Slave Play by Jeremy O. Harris. We’re promised- sorry, trigger-warned- about racist language, sexual violence, and of course a naked Kit Harington. There’s even a high-tech solution to stop you taking a picture of Kit with his kit off: you’re given a piece of sticky paper to cover your mobile phone’s camera lens. So, is this the most shocking play in the West End?
Well, I wasn’t shocked but, if you are of a sensitive disposition, this may not be the play or indeed the review for you. More to the point, before you read on, I will be revealing a number of plot twists which may not be shocking, but, if you are going to see Slave Play, will spoil the intended surprises. What surprised me is how funny the play is.
The first thing you see is Clint Ramos‘ set. You immediately notice that the back of the stage is covered in mirrors. This means you can see some of your fellow audience members, plus a painting of a Southern States plantation owner’s house that is fixed to the front of the circle. Why the mirrors? Perhaps it’s so you can see who’s finding the discriminatory language funny, and who’s uncomfortable with it. Or maybe, so you can how many black people are in the audience, to which the answer is, definitely more than usual in a West End theatre. Or, given that we the audience are still predominantly white and the slavemaster’s house appears to be in our midst, it could be to remind us that this play is intended to be about us, white as well as black, even if we think it isn’t.
‘Work’ is the name of the first act. A couple appear, played by Kit Harington and Olivia Washington (she’s Denzel Washington’s daughter by the way). Some of the Broadway cast have come over, along with original director Robert O’Hara, but both these actors are new to the play.
Judging by what they are wearing and their drawling speech, we seem to be in a pre-Civil War, or antebellum, Southern state. She’s a black slave, but she’s gyrating to a Rihanna song called Work, as she does her chores. This strikes one as a little odd- a bit Bridgerton maybe. He’s a white overseer but not a slave master, as he is at pains to make clear.
There’s a sexual relationship in which he dominates and she submits. He throws a melon on the floor, which he describes as a watermelon, and tells her to get down and eat it. She corrects him, pointing out it’s a cantaloupe. (The poster for the play cleverly turns a cantaloupe melon into a sexual image.) This seems slightly off kilter, as she appears to be more like his equal, maybe even taking the lead. Nevertheless, as instructed, she eats it off the floor. The scene ends with him eating her.
In the second scene, a mature Southern Belle seduces a mixed race (or ‘mulatto’, as she describes him) servant, who could pass for white. She produces a family heirloom- a large black dildo, which she proceeds to use on him. Like all the sex in this production, it is simulated but quite graphic for the stage, and also laugh-out-loud funny (or maybe not, depending on your sensitivities). For me, the stilted Southern accents and porn movie dialogue made me think it could be called Carry On In The Cotton Fields or perhaps Carry On Up The Khyber might be more appropriate.
Scene three and couple number three: two men, one black, one white. The white man is shifting bales of cotton. He is an indentured servant who eventually licks the boots of his black boss. It is by now fairly obvious that there is some kind of role play going on in which the couples are acting out domination and submission fantasies. We are reminded in the programme of the quote by J N Benjamin: ‘everything is about sex, except sex which is about power’. But it could still, just, be early 19th century America. Act One culminates with all three couples having sex. Then Kit Harington’s character calls out ‘Starbucks’, which turns out to be a safe word, and everyone stops. Two women with clipboards enter and we move from farce to satire.
Act Two is called ‘Process’. It turns out that all three couples are on the fourth day of a therapy group- it’s fantasy day, hence the title Slave Play. The black partners are suffering from anhedonia, the first of many conditions I had never heard of. Some of these are made up but anhedonia does exist and, put simply, is lack of arousal.
They gather for discussion and analysis led by the two researchers, played by Chalia La Tour and Irene Sofia Lucio, both from the Broadway cast. They turn out to have encountered the same problem in their own relationship, which they believe can be overcome using what they call ‘Antebellum Sexual Performance Therapy’. This begins an initially hilarious satire as they spout more and more psycho babble, while being at times over sensitive to feelings and at others ignoring them, sometimes shutting down people for saying the ‘wrong thing’ and at others embracing whatever is said and attempting to integrate it into their theory.
Farce and satire are followed by a disturbing climax
To my way of thinking, these couples are simply incompatible, or bored with their relationship. Not so, say the therapists, they maintain that the black participants are feeling the legacy of their ancestors having once been slaves and subject to white imperialism. This is said to affect their sexual relationships with their white lovers. They propose acting out fantasies involving slavery as a solution.
I am assuming from the way the play mocks the researchers that their theory is poppycock. I suspect this extreme kind of unaccredited group therapy is more familiar to Americans than us British. In fact, it’s only a few months since I was at the National Theatre watching Annie Baker’s Infinite Life, another American play about a group of people being conned by bogus therapy.
Slave Play. Photo: Helen Murray
I was amused at first by this central and dominant part of Slave Play, but it is like a satirical sketch that has been stretched out until it stops being funny. A bit like when a pleasant hug carries on until you feel trapped in the embrace.
After a while, I began to wonder how much more humour could be wrung out of these parodies of quack therapists, no matter how well the actors were nailing their techniques. I started to wish there was a safe word I could call out to get us on to the next scene. After all, this play is over two hours long without an interval.
Then, there is a change of gear from comedy to disturbing drama. Despite, rather than because of, the therapists, the black characters overcome what the therapists describe as ‘racialised inhibiting disorder’ and ‘alexithymia’ (guess which term is invented for their difficulty in talking about their emotions). They begin to recognise the true root of their problem, different in each case but with one thing in common.
It has already become clear that the white people are doing a lot of the talking, even though the sessions are supposed to be for the benefit of their black partners. Particularly funny in this respect is the way a middle-aged woman Alana, acted with a wealth of shocked facial expressions by Annie McNamara (from the Broadway cast), constantly speaks for Phillip. He is played with wide-eyed shyness by British actor Aaron Heffernan. She says she doesn’t even think about his colour, until he eventually speaks up and declares that he has been mistaken in thinking that his ability to pass for white is a good thing and that he’s at his most fulfilled when he is seen as being black. He mentions that he was excited by the way they met, when he was brought in by her then husband to fulfil the latter’s cuckold fantasy of seeing his wife have sex with a black man.
Gary, played by British actor Fisayo Akinade, eventually sees that he was wrong to regard a white partner as a kind of prize. Dustin, a flamboyant actor played for laughs by James Cusati-Moyer, who acted the part on Broadway, doesn’t want to think of himself as white. Gary becomes furious that this attitude denies the importance of his own ethnicity. It is one of the most emotional moments in a play that is otherwise more often melodramatic than realistic. The chemistry between them is electric.
Kit Harington‘s Jim, a British white man, is the most skeptical of this so-called Process, and says that he is uncomfortable with role playing a slave master. After some reflection, he observes that his partner seems to regard him as a virus. It is a turning point for Olivia Washington’s Kaneisha, who recognises that her anhedonia has developed because she does see white people that way.
So, at its heart, this play is about an on-going power struggle between white and black people, of which slavery may be the supreme example. The sexual relationships in Slave Play are intended to illustrate that, because white people are used to a society in which they are supreme, they fail to see that they are part of the problem that has caused their black partners’ sexual inhibition.
In the final act, called ‘Exorcise’, the mood becomes more serious. We are back in the bedroom with the couple who opened the play. Kaneisha asks Jim to listen, which he does as she explains to him he needs to recognise that he, as a white man, carries this so-called ‘virus’, because he has inherited a legacy of imperialism, colonialism and, of course, enslaving other races. Then, in a gesture which I took to mean that, this time, he wasn’t simply putting on a costume to play a part, he takes off all his clothes. The lighting is a little subdued as he walks around the bed but it is clear that his body is completely exposed, just as his deepest feelings are now fully acknowledged and revealed.
He once again goes through the ritual of treating her as a slave but this time with sincerity, flinging her, fully clothed, on the bed on her front and climbing on top of her. His aim is not to pleasure her, as in the first scene, but to force himself upon her. All the while, we focus on her calm face and, via the mirrors, and thanks to the bleaching effect of a bright light, at his very white buttocks rising and thrusting. When it’s over, she thanks him, but she is looking at the audience, so it seems she is also thanking those of us who are white for listening and recognising our racial heritage.
Mr Harington does well to convey a character who goes from confident to confused to broken. Ms Washington acts with passion. But, like the rest of the excellent cast, they are portraying characters who too often are ciphers rather than real human beings, and who offer melodrama in place of emotion.
Slave Play may mean more to Americans whose experience of race is different to the British one, so it may not have hit me as forcefully as intended. For me, the points about the psychological effect of white power that Jeremy O. Harris finally teases out in Slave Play, while interesting and provocative, are undermined by the earlier mockery of the psychiatrists. They also take too long to emerge and are less effective than they might be because the narrative is so obviously subservient to an agenda. On the plus side, there is much to enjoy in the sex romps and the send-up of the psycho-therapy industry.
You can see Slave Play at the Noël Coward Theatre until 21 September 2024. Buy tickets direct from the theatre.
Olivia Washington and Kit Harington in Slave Play. Photo: Helen Murray
Jeremy O. Harris’ Broadway success arrives with a much-publicised warning: “Is London Ready for Slave Play?” Despite the use of sex as a way of exploring race and the legacy of slavery, it would seem from the reviews that the answer is ‘yes’. Although there are many references to the shocking content (including a naked Kit Harington), the critics themselves seem unshocked. While acknowledging flaws in the underwritten characters or overwritten satire, they generally praised this confrontational drama. The cast impressed them too, particularly Olivia Washington and Mr Harington. But the applause was not universal, as the two 2-star reviews show.
[Links to full reviews are included but a number are behind paywalls and therefore may not be accessible]
Sarah Hemming in the Financial Times (4) said it was a ‘rollercoaster of emotions that this blistering, painful and provocative drama involves’ She described ‘A tough, troubling, revealing play: proof again that the stage has become an excellent place to grapple, collectively, with our fraught and freighted times and to help us listen better to our own responses.’ Alice Saville in The Independent (4) found the play ‘multi-layered and deft’, saying, ‘Harris’s play is full of a sharp satirical intelligence’.
Isaac Ouro-Gnao writing for LondonTheatre (4★) told us the play ‘grabs you by the scruff of the neck and refuses to let go for two uninterrupted hours.’ He praised ‘incredible performances from the whole cast’. He had one reservation, namely the final scene, which is ‘distasteful and gratuitously violent, sullying an overall brilliant production.’ Time Out’s Andrzej Lukowski (4★) took the opposite view, ‘In the end I felt ‘Slave Play’ is really made by its dynamite final scene…Intimate, tender, brave, repellant and gut wrenching’.
Nick Curtis in the Standard (4★) called it ‘challenging in the best way. It uses sex and therapy as metaphors for society’s wider inability to talk honestly about race and touches on the desensitisation of modern life.’ He said, ‘Harris’s ear for dialogue, and his ability to stoke tension and wrong-foot the audience are terrific. He’s not so hot on character.’ Sam Marlowe in The Stage (4★) found, ‘it is grotesquely funny and extremely disturbing, stunningly visceral yet punishingly verbose, brilliantly clever but at times dramatically frustrating.’ It ‘flings us between shock, hilarity and horror,’ she said. However, ‘the play feels overlong, and’ (agreeing with Nick Curtis above) ‘the sense of the characters as fully developed individuals is fitful’.
The Guardian’s Arifa Akbar (4) decided ‘the play is too clever for its own good, throwing the subject matter in the air without quite landing it, and is an intense experience, in spite of its romping humour and trotting pace.’ She concluded positively, ‘It might be flawed but it is charismatic, needling theatre. An event.’ Neil Norman in the Express (4★) was also ambivalent: ‘It’s funny, clever and undoubtedly challenging, though neither as outrageous nor profound as it would like to be.’
Dominic Cavendish in the Telegraph (3) was another with mixed feelings: ‘The mood tips between the satirical and the earnest; the dialogue oscillates between groping babble and blinding revelation.’ Ke Meng at Theatre Weekly (3★) was disappointed: ‘Unfortunately, rather than being genuinely provocative, Robert O’Hara’s direction steers the show in a more comedic and funny manner—even in the erotic scenes.’ She also found the acting ‘a bit hammed’. Susannah Clapp in The Observer (3★) thought it was a bit obvious: ‘The discussions are so laden, so evident, that they drag down the drama.’
Dominic Maxwell in The Times (2★) said, ‘it boasts some acute moments and fine performances…(yet it) comes across as the sort of ideas-led piece that would stimulate over an hour but has instead unwisely swollen to two hours.’ Tomiwa Owolade reviewing for the Sunday Times (2★) decided ‘it is not provocative or daring’ and thought most people ‘will find the play occasionally amusing, but mostly tedious.’
Alexander Cohen at Broadway World (2★) cautioned, ‘What it considers outrageous, here in London in 2024, doesn’t feel all that shocking’ before going on to describe some of the content in shocking detail. The play was, he said, ‘too obsessed with conceptual naval gazing to the extent that it forgets that its characters are human beings.’ (I assume that’s a typo unless the play really is looking at maritime activities.) He decided, ‘it’s a structureless whirlwind of serious and silly’.
Critics’ Average Rating 3.4★
Value rating 38 (Value rating is the Average Critic Rating divided by the typical ticket price.)
Four Detroit workers’ lives are devastated by redundancy in Dominique Morriseau’s 2016 play. Matthew Xia directs a UK premiere that was generally liked by the critics.
[Links to full reviews are included but a number are behind paywalls and therefore may not be accessible]
Sarah Hemming in The Financial Times (5★) described it as a ‘funny, humane, deeply moving drama’.
Over at The Stage (4★) Dave Fargnoli called it a ‘powerful and humane drama’. The Guardian‘s Arifa Akbar (4★) said ‘The production itself thrums with life’. Sarah Crompton at WhatsOnStage (4★) talked of ‘the power and compassion of its analysis of the weight that unfettered pursuit of profit puts on the lives of ordinary men and women.’
Nick Curtis in the Standard (4★) talked of ‘a beautifully-observed, well-made comedy drama about hardscrabble existence, and Matthew Xia directs a fine cast with laid-back assurance.’ Alexander Cohen at BroadwayWorld (4★) called it ‘a pummelling emotional workout’. Helen Hawkins writing The Arts Desk (4★) commented, ‘Matthew Xia’s intelligent direction gets the best from the text and this fine cast.’
Lindsay Johns writing for the Telegraph (4★) said the ‘muscular, edgy dialogue…is shot through with tenderness, warmth and psychological veracity’. John Cutler at The Reviews Hub (4★) noted, ‘Absent much of a storyline, the piece works most effectively as a nuanced and finely crafted look at the dynamics of a found family, and at working class lives lived under the constant pressure of unwanted change.’
Dominic Maxwell in The Times (3★) said, ‘Skeleton Crew is full of bright exchanges about the characters’ grim forebodings. It’s a show that sets out to simmer more than come to the boil.’
Matt Wolf at London Theatre (3★) said, ‘even if Skeleton Crew sometimes dawdles when it might otherwise detonate, an exemplary cast foregrounds the need for dignity and compassion’.
Andrzej Lukowski in Time Out (assumed 3★) felt it compared unfavourably with the work of Lynn Nottage on similar themes but nevertheless ‘What Morriseau does extremely well is bring together four well-rounded characters (and) show their lives through the prism of work.’
Critics’ Average Rating 3.8★
Value rating 69 (Value rating is the Average Critic Rating divided by the typical ticket price.)
Mia Kobayashi and Zheng Xi Yong in Your Lie in April. Photo: Craig Sugden
A Japanese manga comic which became anime TV series has reached London theatre as a musical. It’s the story of a traumatised young pianist and a love that may save him. Huge praise for the young stars, Zheng Xi Yong and Mia Kobayashi, is offset by disappointment, mockery even, for many other aspects of the production The American music by Frank Wildhorn received a mixed reception. Reviews are trickling in slowly so do come back for an update.
[Links to full reviews are included but a number are behind paywalls and therefore may not be accessible]
Gary Naylor in Broadway World (5★) offered this advice (which plenty of reviewers didn’t take): ‘Fold your arms and harumph and you’ll miss the point; get dizzy recalling that first flush of adolescent desire and the agony of its not being reciprocated, and you’re in.’ He thought ‘the songs are plenty good enough to stand on their own two feet.’ He declared, ‘Mia Kobayashi…radiates superstar power.’
For Marianka Swain at LondonTheatre (4★) it ‘has a knocks-you-flat emotional force that you cannot resist. It will absolutely make you cry.’ The songs were key for her: ‘Each one of these sensationally catchy pop-rock anthems has a disarming sincere directness‘. It was, she concluded, an ‘impassioned, uplifting and deeply moving musical’
The Guardian’s Arifa Akbar (3★) listed all reasons she didn’t like it. The book? ‘full of cheesy cliches.’ The characters? ‘Americanised and schematic.’ The plot? ‘overdramatic, underexplained’. The design? ‘mystifying, with a thrown-together look.’ Fortunately, ‘the songs, along with spirited performances, become the show’s saving grace.’ Paul Vale for The Stage (3★) also liked the music: ‘this is Wildhorn’s best score of recent years, capturing both the spirit of manga and the power of music to restore the soul.’
Dzifa Benson writing for the Telegraph (3★) had a negative view of the music ‘let down by Frank Wildhorn’s generic show-tunes,’ but thought ‘All the performances…are spot on’.
‘Buyer beware,’ said Dominic Maxwell in The Times (3★), ‘it’s a cheesefest from start to finish. What can I say, though? Sometimes a platter of cheese is just what you fancy.’
The ‘show is overpowered by the crashing clichés of its story and the clunky Americanisms of Rinne B Groff’s English version,’ said Tom Wicker reviewing for Time Out (3★ assumed). He pointed out, ‘you’re in trouble with a musical when the songs are straining so hard to be inspirational that a plot-device bike ride gets as rousing an anthem as a character’s death.’
Nick Curtis in The Standard (2★) hated it, and he didn’t pull his punches: ‘this emotionally overwrought Japanese musical…strikes me as absurd…it’s glib, mawkish and riddled with clichés.’ As for the music, ‘Frank Wildhorn’s score is dominated by gushy, eyes-aloft, mouth-agape anthems’. Here’s his knockout blow: ‘Anger, grief and anxiety are turned up to 11 for the most OTT songs before the tone slips back to the gurgling, simpering comedy of a teen sitcom.’
Critics’ Average Rating 3.3★
Value rating 44 (Value rating is the Average Critic Rating divided by the typical ticket price.)
Your Lie in April can be seen at the Harold Pinter Theatre until 21 September 2024. Buy tickets directly from yourlieinapril.co.uk
If you’ve seen Your Lie in April at the Harold Pinter, please add your review and rating below
Theatre de Complicite’s Mnemonic at the National Theatre. Photo: Johan Persson
First performed in 1999, Complicité’s legendary experimental work Mnemonic has been revived, with some updating. The stories of a woman searching across Europe and the discovery of a 5000-year-old man preserved in ice are the main strands in an exploration of memory, human migration and identity. It is directed by Simon McBurney, Complicité’s founder and Artistic Director. A high number of five and four star reviews for its dazzling theatricality were offset slightly by those from critics who thought it seemed old hat.
[Links to full reviews are included but a number are behind paywalls and therefore may not be accessible]
Sarah Hemming writing for the Financial Times (5★) proclaimed it as ‘a profound celebration of the nature of theatre: the collective act of imagination that allows us to collaborate in bringing the past to life…witty, elusive, intensely beautiful and humane.’ Dave Fargnoli in The Stage (5★) ‘Sequences blend fluidly together, with echoing dialogue and recurring gestures carrying through from one scene to the next, creating an aural and visual collage of overlapping content. Understated yet precise physical work offers striking imagery, while plenty of humour keeps the energy up’.
Time Out’s Andrzej Lukowski (5★) talked of ‘brain melting experimental odysseys that’ll rewire your cerebellum’ ‘it builds into something luminous and huge and almost beyond comprehension. Its last few minutes feel like staring overwhelmed at the secrets of creation.’ Dominic Maxwell at The Times (5★) was also bowled over: ‘Scenes, lines and set pieces slip into one another with invigorating speed. Big ideas keep coming, but so do good jokes. No time to get bored.’ He ended with this recommendation, ‘So, still a masterpiece. If you love theatre, see it. If you don’t love theatre, it might just change your mind.’
The Standard’s Nick Curtis (4★) discovered ‘a teeming, fecund representation of McBurney’s ability to make giant associative leaps while drilling down into what makes us human. It’s beautifully performed’. Alex Wood at WhatsOnStage (4★) said the show ‘has a vast, continental sweep that makes it an enthralling proposition for the audience.’ It made an impression too on Nick Ferris at the Telegraph (4★): ‘this remains unique experimental theatre, which will linger in the mind long after its conclusion.’
The Observer’s (3 ★) Susannah Clapp compared this production with the original. She said, ‘the qualities with which Complicité has for ever altered the stage are apparent throughout’ However, ‘this reincarnation is more deliberate, more didactic, more confusing than the original.’
The Guardian’s Arifa Akbar (3 ★) felt shortchanged: ‘with all these exquisite parts, the production does not quite deliver on a promise of profundity in tying them together’. She commented, ‘the show does not feel as much of a revolution of ideas and stagecraft as it did in 1999’. Fiona Mountford at i-news (3 ★) made the same point: ‘what previously appeared so ground-breaking has lost a little of its novelty and lustre since’.
Alexander Cohen at Broadway World (2★) was more blunt: ‘Perhaps in 1999 its dreamlike dizziness was revolutionary. In 2024 it feels too predictable to truly dazzle.’
Critics’ Average Rating 4.0★
Value rating 81 (Value rating is the Average Critic Rating divided by the typical ticket price.)
Starlight Express at the Troubadour Wembley Park. Photo: Pamela Raith
Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Starlight Express is back, and this time it’s a new production in The Troubadour, a warehouse-like venue that has been transformed into an immersive space. It’s the tale of a children’s train set come to life, and underdog Rusty being inspired to win a race with other engines. It may sound like a children’s show but the lively songs and roller skating cast provide plenty of adults to enjoy. Most, but not all, reviewers liked it, some loved it. It was generally agreed to be a spectacular production.
[Links to full reviews are included but a number are behind paywalls and therefore may not be accessible]
Dominic Cavendish in the Telegraph (5★) was so knocked out by this production, he saw stars, five of them. It’s a ‘head-spinning wonderland’, ‘jaw-dropping’, ‘part theme-park ride, part theatrical revolution’, he enthused, with ‘much magic and life-affirming meaning’. He ended, ‘The energy and bravura of it all are frankly out of this world.’
Paul Vale for The Stage (5★) also gave full marks: ‘(Tim) Hatley’s design is a fusion of industrial brutalism and disco chic, with a racetrack that weaves around the auditorium with ramps, tunnels and a revolve. Gabriella Slade’s sculpted costumes are a meticulously constructed mix of colourful body armour and Lycra that reflect each character.’
The Daily Mail‘s Patrick Marmion (4★) proclaimed, ‘This eyeball-scorching, ear-blasting revival of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s train-racing musical-on-roller-skates is an audio-visual blitzkrieg, the like of which I’ve never seen before.’ Arifa Akbar in The Guardian (4★) was impressed: ‘tailor-made for the Troubadour’s massive auditorium, it erupts like a Vesuvius of light, sound, projection and dry ice under the direction of Luke Sheppard’. The songs, she said, ‘are masterfully sung all round, alongside the athletic feats of the cast.’
The Independent‘s Tim Bano (4★) confessed, ‘It’s more spectacle than sense, an extraordinary creative onslaught, with songs about steam engines cranked out at max volume, all designed to delight your inner child – which it really does.’ He expanded, ‘Everything about it is maximalist. Tim Hatley’s set has ramps and revolves and sliding doors, costumes by Gabriella Slade turn humans into Transformers/Power Rangers/living cartoon things.’
‘Starlight Express is possibly one of the world’s most bizarre musicals,’ declares Aliya Al-Hassan at Broadway World (4★). Nevertheless, ‘The auditorium itself feels like being thrown into the middle of an arcade game’ and she concludes, ‘As a theatrical experience, this will make a life-long impression on many young theatre-goers’.
Marianka Swain for LondonTheatre (4★) sounded like she needed to breathe into a paper bag: ‘the actors playing trains whizzed right past me on roller skates at heart-pounding speeds. But that’s just the beginning of this mind-blowing state-of-the-art experience.’ She continued, ‘This tech-wizard production also boasts the biggest lighting rig I’ve ever seen in theatre, and a phenomenal display from Howard Hudson’ and concluded, ‘It’s an awe-inspiring stadium gig-meets-theme park ride of a show’.
The Times’ Clive Davis (4★) thought it was a great show for children: ‘The director Luke Sheppard moves things along at a gallop.’
Time Out’s Andrzej Lukowski (3 ★) admitted, it’s ‘a lot of fun and has no aspirations to be anything other than exactly what it is.’ ‘It is technically dazzling,’ he added. Dominic Maxwell in the Sunday Times (3 ★) summed up: ‘mostly catchy songs, a crack cast, choreography and design let the trains take the strain of anything so tedious as rational thought.’
There’s always someone who’ll throw leaves on the line, and on this occasion it’s Fiona Mountford at the i (2★) Among the many things she disliked was the way ‘Large video screens pump out irredeemably naff 80s-style graphics’. She was left in the sidings by the production: ‘this slick but soulless show left me none the wiser’
Critics’ Average Rating 3.9★
Value rating 38 (Value rating is the Average Critic Rating divided by the typical ticket price.)
Starlight Express is at the Troubadour Wembley Park Theatre until June 2025. Click here to buy tickets direct from Troubadour Theatres
If you’ve seen Starlight Express at the Troubadour, please add your review and rating below
The Secret Garden at The Open Air Theatre. Photo: Alex Brenner
Frances Hodgson Burnett’s much loved but dated story about a child who moves from India to Yorkshire has been adapted by into a play relevant for today, and given a highly praised open air production by Anna Himali Howard.
[Links to full reviews are included but a number are behind paywalls and therefore may not be accessible]
Fiona Mountford in the i (5★) loved it: ‘Holly Robinson and Anna Himali Howard, who also directs, have hit the jackpot here, maintaining all Hodgson Burnett’s key themes of a lonely and disagreeable orphan coming to life and finding friendship in nature, but cleverly amplifying the Indian side of Mary Lennox’s story.’
Anya Ryan in The Stage (5★) was entranced : ‘Marvellous, wise and expertly updated, it is sublime.’ She explained, ‘the victory of this adaptation is as much down to the ensemble work as the writing. The narration is shared between the cast members, who take it in turns to lead us through Mary’s story.’
Rachel Halliburton reviewing for The Times (4★) said, ‘Hannah Khalique-Brown… quickly makes her mark as an impressively petulant Mary… the cast around her acts like a chorus, wryly commenting on her spiky progress into a strange new world.’ She praised every aspect of the show including’Leslie Travers’s spellbinding design — full of hidden doors and ravishing paper garland plants — is the icing on the cake, fusing elegantly with the trees and birdlife of Regent’s Park. It’s a treat’
Arifa Akbar at The Guardian (4★) called it ‘it is an inspired transposition of a story that deals with dark themes around family and belonging’. Her colleague Susannah Clapp at The Observer (4★) said, ‘It is a lovely thing that adapters Holly Robinson and Anna Himali Howard have done with The Secret Garden.’
Anna James for WhatsOnStage (4★) noted, ‘Hannah Khalique-Brown as Mary stands out, giving a particularly moving and detailed performance’. Caroline McGinn writing for Time Out (4★) referred to ‘the creative ebullience of a charming and lovely production’.
Kat Mokrynski for Broadway World (4★) found ‘a beautiful adaptation of the classic novel that truly elevates its source material, bringing it to new heights of growth and love’. Nick Ferris reviewing for the Telegraph (4) agreed: ‘the production ultimately does a fine job at retaining the charm of the novel while making it appropriate for now.’
Patrick Marmion in the Daily Mail (4★) described how the ‘smoky Indian flute, twang of sitar and rumble of tabla drums, alongside cleverly improvised incarnations of crows, robins and squirrels, bring fresh enchantment to a classic tale.’
Julia Rank for LondonTheatre (3 ★) likedthe way ‘This new adaptation…keeps the Edwardian setting while implementing some intelligent revisionism’ but said it needed ‘a bit more pruning’.
Critics’ average rating 4.1★
Value rating 69 (Value rating is the Average Critic Rating divided by the typical ticket price.)
Mean Girls at the Savoy Theatre. Photo: Brinkhoff Moegenburg
Mean Girls, in the words of WhatsOnStage’s Sarah Crompton, is ‘a cautionary musical tale of high school rivalries, corruption and betrayal wrapped in a very pretty pink bow‘. Tina Fey’s stage musical version of her movie script was a Broadway hit; six years later, it has arrived in the West End. Was it worth the wait? The critics generally liked Tina Fey’s book (script) but there was disagreement on the quality of the songs.
[Links to full reviews are included but a number are behind paywalls and therefore may not be accessible]
Fiona Mountford in the i (4★) was a fan: ‘Jeff Richmond (composer) and Nell Benjamin (lyrics) supply a highly tuneful score that is a riot of peppy, poppy songs; unusually for a new musical, I came away humming several of the numbers.’ She said, ‘Director/choreographer Casey Nicholaw…certainly knows how to concoct a slick production’.
Adam Bloodworth at CityAM (4★) was equally enthusiastic: ‘it feels freshly powerful for a new generation rather than treading in the footsteps of the original. That’s mainly thanks to Nell Benjamin’s pumping musical score that neatly translates the sassy characters’ stories onto the stage, and Casey Nicholaw’s direction and choreography, which is gripping and pacey…it feels freshly powerful for a new generation rather than treading in the footsteps of the original.’
Sarah Crompton at WhatsOnStage (4★) discovered ‘a book as corrosive as acid but much funnier’. She had a reservation: ‘The problem is that the songs, with music by Fey’s husband Jeff Richmond and lyrics by Nell Benjamin, are syrupy where the script is sharp…they crucially extend the show…to a slightly sagging two and a half hours.’ She concluded, ‘All the skill involved makes it hard not to succumb. This is a genuinely enjoyable show with its heart in the right place’.
Despite describing it as ‘mere chaff’, the Telegraph’s (4★) reviewer called it ‘a rare combination of warmth, goofiness, snarky wit and perceptiveness.’ It came across to Susannah Clapp in The Observer (4★) as ‘a friendly, popular show‘.
Chris Wiegand for The Guardian (3★) felt ‘too many routines are efficient rather than euphoric. The pristine school surroundings and several bland songs result in a sometimes flat production’. He conceded, ‘It’s often fun, and is well cast and impressively acted, but just needs an extra shot of dazzle and acidity.’
The Sunday Times’ Dominic Maxwell (3★) ‘found an oddly sluggish first half’ with songs that ‘run the gamut between the passable and the adequate’. Fortunately, ‘Jokes still land, the acting is terrific and the songs have more emotion to play with as the story clicks into gear in the second half.’ His colleague at The Times, Clive Davis (3★), said, ‘it’s engaging enough, although Fey’s one-liners linger longer in the memory than most of the bubblegum songs’.
Nick Curtis in the Standard (3★) thought it was a ‘breezy, arch but boneless musical adaptation’ with ‘poppy, mostly forgettable songs’. He found, ‘You find yourself wishing for each number to end so we can get back to Fey’s insouciant wit.’
Anya Ryan for The Stage (3★) was disappointed that ‘Nothing feels surprising.’ However, ‘Jeff Richmond and Nell Benjamin’s poppy songs feature plenty of bangers’ and ‘Fey has certainly put her finger on something: she knows girls can be savage, sly and criminally mean’. She is sad that ‘It’s just a shame then that the constant re-churning of this story is starting to feel soulless’.
Tim Bano in The Independent (2★) wasn’t mean exactly,but he was sarcastic: ‘If the movie didn’t exist, this would be fine. I mean, the score by Fey’s husband Jeff Richmond would still be a bit anodyne, every song filler-y, most of them unmemorable, the direction by Casey Nicholaw functional, his choreography fruitlessly maximal, the digital set a bit empty and unimaginative.’
Critics’ average rating 3.3★
Value rating 37 (Value rating is the Average Critic Rating divided by the typical ticket price.)
Mean Girls The Musical can be seen at the Savoy Theatre until 16 February 2025. Buy tickets direct
If you’ve seen Mean Girls at the Savoy Theatre, please add your review and rating below
James Corden returns to the West End stage to star alongside acting superstar Anna Maxwell Martin in a relatively small play by Joe Penhall about a confrontation between an angry constituent and his basically decent MP. The Old Vic’s artistic director Matthew Warchus directs, putting the audience, traverse style, on two sides of a narrow stage for this look at the state of Britain and its politics. The critics praised the two leads but there were mixed feelings about the play: two really liked it and one handed out two stars.
[Links to full reviews are included but a number are behind paywalls and therefore may not be accessible]
The Guardian’s Arifa Akbar (4★) was a cheerleader: ‘Played straight through at 90 minutes and resolutely focused on local politics, it becomes universal by being so specific.’ She pointed out, ‘Each of these characters is a victim of the system, hanging on, just’. She thought, ‘Maxwell Martin is subtly brilliant’
Aliya Al-Hassan for Broadway World (4★) also approved wholeheartedly. ‘Penhall’s script is not a polemic and brings out the humanity in the characters’. She liked both the main actors, saying, ‘The pair have excellent chemistry and their shifting relationship is very believable.’
For Sarah Hemming in the Financial Times (4★) ‘Corden and Maxwell Martin are excellent’ and ‘Penhall’s play makes the case for more care and empathy. He reminds us of the other meaning of constituent — “to be part of a whole”.
Marianka Swain for LondonTheatre (4★) said, ‘The ideas occasionally supersede the people, but the strong cast, and a good amount of humour in Penhall’s script, keep us gripped.’
Natasha Tripney for the Standard (3★) thought ‘the surprisingly thin play squanders both its timely subject matter and the talents of the cast.’ She assured us, ‘Corden does a strong job, capturing the character’s intensity and increasing desperation’.
Sam Marlowe in The Stage (3★) thought it was a ‘crisp production’ and that ‘Penhall’s dialogue is packed with zap and zing’ She said ‘the performances are pretty much faultless’, however she found ‘the play is at once too narrow and too broad’.
Dominic Cavendish in the Telegraph (3★) thought ‘Penhall’s script…nicely handles the blend of comedy and darkening aggro.’ For him, James Corden was ‘all fixed intensity and hunched affability, then moves across 90 minutes to reveal a more bellicose side to the blustering persona, before showing us a sobbing emblem of broken Britain, alienated from the system’.
Susannah Clapp in The Observer (3★) found ‘The dialogue is heavy with explanation and the action slowed by overload’. She said James Corden showed ‘what a versatile actor he is.’ Time Out’s Andrzej Lukowski (3★) praised James Corden as ‘an actor of range and substance’ and thought ‘Maxwell Martin is terrific’, but he damned the play with faint praise as ‘decent’.
Alun Hood for WhatsOnStage (3★) thought the play was ‘enjoyable, tartly funny and almost reaches the tension level of a thriller’ but he had a reservation: ‘it smacks of a very fine writer wanting to dash off something relevant and timely, without really offering anything genuinely illuminating or new‘. He observed, ‘Corden isn’t a subtle actor, painting with broad, blunt colours, and possessed of a monotonous line delivery…but his unique combination of manic energy, bluster and simmering aggression work well for the character.’
It didn’t get CityAM ‘s (2) Adam Bloodworth’s vote. He was contemptuous of its male star: ‘Corden is on auto-pilot’. He is hardly less complimentary about the play: ‘Joe Penhall’s script is full of jokes that don’t land and the set up is clunky and hard to believe.’ As for the production, ‘it’s over stylised to the point that it kills the drama’.
For The Times’ Clive Davis (2), the play was ‘tepid’, lines were ‘leaden’, Corden ‘can’t bring enough depth’, and Maxwell Martin ‘strikes a monotonously querulous note’.
Critics’ Average Rating 3.2
Value rating 42 (Value rating is the Average Critic Rating divided by the typical ticket price.)
The Constituent can be seen at the Old Vic until 10 August 2024. Buy tickets direct from The Old Vic
If you’ve seen The Constituent at the Old Vic Theatre,please add your review and rating below
